The Hanging Tree
by Dusk Snake
Summary: Follow Scott Daniels as his story unfolds, revealing the story behind the inspiration for the song, "The Hanging Tree".


Scott Daniels joined the peacekeepers as a way of paying off the crimes of his father. After many cases of attempted murder and nearly beating a witness to death, their family was on the verge of being sent to the districts to live. He was given a chance to join the peacekeepers to save him and his mother, and he took that chance gladly. Yet, now, he wondered if he made the correct choice. He and a small group of peacekeepers were walking towards a small town near a river, so insignificant and poor that it's not even considered a district. However, not minor enough to ignore riots from, apparently. The war between the capitol and the districts ended fifty years ago, yet apparently, there were still people that were extremely bitter. The group had their helmets on, in case anyone saw them and tried to fire at them before they get to the town.

News in a small place apparently spreads fast, as when the group got to the town, not a single person was outside, it was almost like the place is a ghost group's leader, Gloria Newton, held up her hand to stop them. She stepped forward, and said in a loud voice, "Due to an ever increasing amounts of riots, the Capitol has decided to level this town. Leave peacefully, now. Don't take anything. This is the only chance you get." Several of the house's doors opened, and a few, timid looking people walked out. Gloria looked around, glaring at the doors that were still closed. "Is that it? Well then - "

"Wait!" A voice called out. The door to a house near the end of the street opened, and a boy wearing a small knapsack holding up his grandfather slowly got out. Gloria glared at them as they slowly walked up the rest of the small crowd. But, seeing as it was "protocol" not to kill anyone following the rules, she wasn't able to do anything. "Is that it, _now_?" Silence. She turned and slightly nodded at Scott. "Rookie, take the _smarter_ ," she said, practically spitting out the words "People back to the relocation plane, it's simple enough that you shouldn't mess this up. We'll handle things here." Ushering the small crown of about fifteen people, Scott and the group silently walked the path to the plane, the group in front and Scott behind them to make sure no one runs.

After a few minutes, sounds of gunfire and explosions began behind them. A couple of the people, unable to contain their emotions, burst out crying. Others were sobbing, but for the most part, they continued to silently walk. No one dared to look back. Scott, feeling uncomfortable at the fact that "his people" were the cause of this misery, had no choice but to continue guiding them.

While they were walking along the edge of a river, The people suddenly pulled out small knives hidden in their clothes and tricked to tackle and stab him. Protocol stated that in cases like these he should immediately shoot everyone. However, the first person his gun was trained on was the little boy who was holding up his grandfather. He hesitated, and in that second, Was tackled and stabbed in the chest by one of the attackers so forcefully it went through the armor. Pain exploded out of the spot and he stumbled backwards. It seemed that in that same moment the other peacekeepers somehow caught up, as bullets sprayed out at the people from between the trees. As he fell backwards into the water, he saw the boy, wide-eyed, kneeling by his grandfather, who had been shot in the left shoulder.

The moment Scott fell into the ice-cold water the chill immediately brought his senses down to a crawl. A few seconds after he fell in the water the bodies of the townsfolk also flew in after him, probably kicked in by the other peacekeepers. The other peacekeepers. Would they pull him out, or leave him to drown? Hoping for some chance of survival, he mustered up the energy to kick up to the surface of the water. He could see that the current had carried him away from the shore a little, but the other peacekeepers should still be able to see him. However, to his despair, although they saw him, they turned to leave. Knowing they would be no help, he had no choice but to muster up the energy himself, and after much frantic splashing and flailing, he somehow managed to make it to the shore. Pulling himself out of the water and onto the shore, he collapsed tiredly onto the ground.

Hearing splashing behind him, Scott flipped himself over to find the boy struggling to keep him and his grandfather above the water, all while being swept away by the water current. Scott watched a few seconds, unsure whether to save the traitors or save them. The two made eye-contact for just a moment. (Although the boy didn't know, him still having the helmet on.) The sadness and fear in the boy's eyes got the better of his conscience, and Scott got up, his wound draining his energy every moment. By now the boy had almost seemed to give up, his grandfather the only reason he's still pushing to survive. Scott hesitated another moment, and then slowly got into the water. Once the water got to shoulder height he started to slightly paddle towards the two. Every movement stretched his wound and it was burning despite how cold the water is. Reaching the two, he grabbed one of their shirts and started dragging them towards the shore.

At first, the boy was startled and fought back, but seeing how the peacekeeper wasn't trying to kill them, stopped struggling and attempted to help the peacekeeper (who was holding onto the back of his grandfather's shirt). Reaching the shore, The three hauled themselves out of the water and onto the shore. The last bit of his energy drained, Scott managed to stumble to a tree before collapsing.

The boy spent several minutes checking over his grandfather, and although he said he was fine, his shoulder was still leaking blood. Somehow, the boy didn't lose his knapsack in all the chaos and he took out a knife from it and cut off a bit of the sleeve on his shirt and did his best to wrap up his grandfather's wound, although even he could see it was done poorly. His grandfather taken care of, the boy turned to find the peacekeeper slumped on the side of a tree. The boy cautiously inched towards him. Once he got to a few feet before the peacekeeper and seeing him not react at all, the boy figured the peacekeeper must be unconscious, although the slight breathing indicated he was still alive. Looking at his wound, it was obvious that the peacekeeper would bleed out if the wound wasn't blocked. The boy looked back at his grandfather, not knowing what to do. His grandfather seemed to be spacing out however, as he does sometimes. The boy looked back at the injured peacekeeper lying at his feet, unsure whether to save the one who helped him and his grandfather, or to let his enemy die.

 **A/N And that's the first chapter done! I had originally planned to have this as a one-shot but realized that for this story to be "Good enough" it would have to be longer than I had originally planned, so I might hit a bit of writer's block every now and then. If you didn't notice, I had set this story before the actual hunger games books so although this is in the hunger games world you won't see any of the characters - except maybe Snow I'm not sure at this point although I doubt it - and uhh I'm not entirely sure whether I'm going to finish this story's second chapter first or the next chapter for "The Mansion at the Top of the Hill" (TMTH) next or when I will, so just keep an eye out (check back in a month or something xD). Well uh, please leave a review, and I hope you enjoyed :)**

 **(I was going to upload this last thursday but Fanfiction was being stooped)**


End file.
